A Study Of China And ASEAN To Promote Investment Liberalization

Nowadays, the economic globalization and regional economic integration has become an irresistible trend. In 2001, China and ten ASEAN countries agreed to establish China -ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) in ten years, and signed a framework agreement of China -ASEAN overall economic cooperation in November 2002. After the agreement was signed, the building of the free trade area has made significant progress, the bilateral investment has a substantial increase, and the bilateral trade and investment relations have entered a new stage. Although the figures highlight the building of the free trade zone has achieved gratifying results, but many problems still exist, including the legal system construction which is lagging behind.Current legal adjustment between China and ASEAN investment relations is a multilevel legal system including domestic investment law and other related laws, bilateral investment agreements, and the WTO framework and investment-related rules. On the one hand, because not all of the ASEAN countries are a formal member of WTO, and the level of economic development in different countries differs greatly, hence rules of investment in some respects will appear on collision, conflict or inconsistency; On the other hand, multilateral and bilateral investment regulations are imperfect, not incompatible with the existing investment laws to the development of relations. Therefore, while revising and improving the ten bilateral investment agreements, while creating a "China - ASEAN investment liberalization agreement" are imperative.To the design of China - ASEAN investment liberalization agreements, this thesis focuses on the analysis of the three mainstream viewpoint, and pointed out a practical liberalization agreement should be created through referring and transforming the WTO rules on investment, applying and developing China and ASEAN relevant agreement, absorbing China and ASEAN relevant domestic laws and referring other regional trade arrangements. And some specific principles of China's participation in the investment liberalization negotiations also be given.To concrete measures of China - ASEAN investment liberalization negotiations, this paper discusses mainly from the liberalization of access to foreign capital and National Treatment. By analyzing the international practice as well as the regulations of China and ASEAN countries, this paper gives some suggestions of China's participation in investment negotiations in next step.